The FIU CARTA Fellowship

FIU CARTA Fellowship will create a 21st century paradigm for the New American City: Miami, by bringing together Art, Architecture, New Technologies, Landscape Design, Urban Planning, Infrastructure, Journalism and Multimedia through lectures, exhibitions, events, classes/courses, collaborations, design competitions, publications and films at the Miami Beach Urban Studios (FIU).

We believe strongly that this FIU CARTA Fellow will be well-positioned to create an inspired, engaged learning environment that not only benefits the FIU student body but also connects with and contributes to the greater community through civic programs and projects with architects, artists, scholars, urban planners, environmental scientists, developers, writers, and film makers. With your assistance, our ability to continue to positively impact our community by providing opportunities for social and economic mobility will be significantly enhanced.

The FIU CARTA Fellowship would be a 3-year renewable fellowship which would foster a new level of collaborative interaction and innovation between the various programs and disciplines that are being brought together under the institutional umbrella of CARTA and functioning out of the Miami Beach Urban Studios.

These include:

Communication Arts and Journalism

Architecture

Environmental and Urban Design

Art, Art History, and Curatorial Practice

Graphic and Object Design

Climate Change / Sea Level Rise

New technologies

The goal is to use the fellowship to create an environment of holistic innovation and creativity–part think tank, part urban laboratory–following in the spirit of centers like the Media Lab at MIT; The Loeb Fellowship at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design; the Institute for Justice and Journalism at the University of Arizona; Ashoka (particularly relevant since FIU is an Ashoka Changemaker Campus), Earthwatch, and the World Resources Institute (WRI).

Impact:

In a large, urban, engaged university like FIU, it is particularly important to make connections, “lubricate” interactions, promote diversity, and help stimulate the imaginations of participating faculty and visiting scholars, while also reaching out to a broader community through a cross-pollination of ideas and initiatives.

The fellowship will help create new narratives that help to change public perception and build consensus.

The FIU CARTA Fellow will organize interactive programs, teach seminars, help to write grant proposals, give public lectures, coordinate symposia, supervise publications, oversee web sites, produce videos, etc. to coordinate a merging of culture, public policy, urban planning and environmental activism. The fellow would help establish open lines of communication, foster imaginative solutions, and create a kind of narrative glue to hold all of the disparate disciplines and departments together.

Additionally, the FIU CARTA Fellow will create a critical writing program for journalism students and others. S/he will coordinate events, curate exhibitions, and invite distinguished guests to speak at MBUS, and help to promote and broadcast CARTA/MBUS sponsored events to a wider network in architecture and the arts.

Perhaps most importantly, in response to Miami’s changing skyline and the social-economic impact it has on under-privileged sectors of the population, the FIU CARTA Fellow will help promote programs in social housing and environmental awareness through municipal officials and working with FIU architecture students.

Conclusion:

At the end of the first three years of the FIU CARTA Fellowship, it is hoped that a number of new funded initiatives will have been incubated and developed into full-fledge opportunities that increase FIU’s reach as a driver in the city, enhance student success at CARTA, and expand FIU’s opportunities for preeminence not only in our region, but across the nation, and around the globe.

For More Information:

Thank you for your consideration of this important fellowship. For more information regarding this opportunity or other ways to get involved with CARTA, please contact Kristin Bird, Director of Development, at kbird@fiu.edu or 305-919-4001.